


Scars

by Vargras



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Multi, but also mildly fluffy, featuring very mild angst, he just loves his girls okay, hello it's headcanon time again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-17 23:56:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16984224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vargras/pseuds/Vargras
Summary: Every battle and every war has its price.Rex finds that out well after the fact.





	Scars

**Author's Note:**

> Every oneshot just gives me more time to put off working on Mercurial and Afterlife.
> 
> Haha whoops.

Another day had come and gone, and still they had grown.

He scowled a bit, even as he eyed his own body within the waters of the bath. It had been hard _not_ to notice them, continually appearing and spreading as time had passed, and all of it seemingly coincided with the loss of the World Tree. Perhaps it had simply been coincidence, and perhaps not. It was… admittedly hard to tell at times, especially with how wildly the entirety of Alrest had changed since then. Things formerly thought to be impossible had suddenly been possible, after all -- it wouldn’t be terribly surprising if this had been an extension of it.

Still, he considered it some small blessing that he had managed to keep most of it concealed from Pyra and Mythra. They had been kept busy enough in the days since with all manner of meetings and summons from the various nations, and his own choice of attire had also aided in _somehow_ keeping those two from finding out what it was that his body had been undergoing. No doubt they’d be worried sick if they knew, and he certainly didn’t want to do that to them. He did know it was only a matter of time, though. His relationship with the both of them would no doubt eventually reach the point in which they’d inevitably see everything he had been trying to hide. That thought alone had his face feeling about as warm as the waters he was soaking in, but that wasn’t the point right now.

The point was making sure they wouldn’t _freak out_ upon discovering that his body had become littered with scars, from his neck to his legs and almost everywhere in-between. It had been a slow and gradual process, something he had only noticed perhaps a week ago upon spying a strange mark upon his chest, roughly where his heart would be. That mark had steadily grown with time, and it was maybe a few days after that he discovered a matching one in the middle of his spine -- the others had begun to appear about the same time. Each day would bring with it a new set, varying in size and location, and they weren’t _always_ capable of being hidden away from the two girls he was now living with. Any on his extremities were rather quickly noticed, typically by Pyra but sometimes by Mythra first, and it had been easy enough to explain them away by saying that he had gotten them from salvaging or from sparring with some of the Garfont Mercenaries. That itself usually lead to a brief, gentle scolding from one of the two to _please_ be more careful.

He knew they didn’t exactly relish the idea of him getting hurt, which was precisely why he had been trying to conceal them for as long as he had. It was a losing battle, however. There _would_ come a time in which he’d have to tell them, would have to _show_ them. That… wasn’t exactly a day he was looking forward to.

There was a soft knock upon the door, pulling him out of his own thoughts as he turned to look over his shoulder, and calling out, “I’m almost done, just gimme a few!”

 _Right, time to get out_. He didn’t want to keep either of them waiting. With a sigh, he braced himself upon the sides of the tub and slowly pulled himself out, swinging his legs over the side until he was back on solid ground. Drying himself off didn’t take very long either, and he already had one leg in his pants whilst leaning over to pull the plug and let the water drain out. The other leg soon followed, and all that was left was to get his shirt on, which was… proving to be surprisingly difficult. Maybe he had simply missed a spot or something, and that extra bit of moisture was causing his clothes to stick more than they typically would, but he was sure he’d get it eventually. One arm slipped in with ease, but the other quickly got stuck, and he began to struggle a bit just to get the rest of it on.

The sound of the knob turning caused him to panic a fair amount. He just… had to get this one last sleeve on, just had to get his arm into it and--

There was a faint _click_ as the door knob fully turned, and as the door itself began to swing open, Rex hadn’t managed to turn around in time to catch a glimpse of just who was standing there. He was still fighting with this damned sleeve, trying everything short of ripping it to get it on himself. There were just a few more precious seconds left until…

A sharp gasp, a choked cry, and the sound of a glass dropping to the floor and shattering. “R-Rex?!”

All Mythra had wanted to do was to simply take a nice, relaxing bath, with a book in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. Instead, she was now looking at a gruesome-looking gash that ran for several inches along her Driver’s spine, not to mention the countless other marks upon his back.

The only response from him had been a very faint “...titan’s foot.”

 

* * *

 

This certainly wasn’t how they had planned to spend the evening.

Both Pyra and Mythra currently found themselves waiting anxiously outside their own bedroom -- Nia had been called for almost immediately, had made her way to Fonsett with the utmost haste, and was currently inside examining Rex. All that was left for them now was to just… wait.

Mythra had told her sister about what had happened, of course, long after Pyra had come sprinting over after hearing a scream. He had never made any indication that anything was wrong, so they were both sure that he _was_ completely fine, but… the sheer number of scars she had seen, as well as the large one in the middle of his back, had been cause for alarm. Asking for Nia’s help was simply a precaution, or so they kept telling themselves.

There was a faint sound within the bedroom, and the door slowly began to open. A pair of long ears briefly poked out before the rest of the Gormotti came into view, and Nia gave them both a look before gesturing for them to follow. “C’mon in, you two.”

They certainly didn’t need to be told twice. Both of them had immediately hopped to their feet and quickly followed her inside, shutting the door behind themselves. Within, Rex sat upon their bed, still shirtless as he gave both of them a sheepish grin. He had begun to reach for it to put it back on, but Nia tutted at him in an attempt to discourage him. It apparently worked, as he just as quickly gave up on his efforts.

Pyra and Mythra both had shared looks of worry, though Pyra arguably looked more concerned than her sister, leaning down to briefly eye Rex before glancing back towards the Gormotti. “Is he…?”

“Fine?” Rather than give any sort of serious response, Nia instead laughed faintly, shaking her head as she continued. “He’s _completely healthy_ , you two. Everything on him is just scarring from… something. Couldn’t tell you what, but it’s not bothering him none. He’s probably in the best shape of his life, if you ask me.”

“So there’s _nothing_ wrong?” Pyra almost sounded incredulous, though she could hardly be blamed. “But… all of this happened so suddenly, we just weren’t sure if it was… you know.”

“You mean something more serious?” She shook her head, her ears bouncing a bit as she did. “Far as I can tell, it’s _just_ scarring. Sure, it’s _weird_ , but I don’t have a damned clue for _why_ it all showed up when it did and as quickly as it did.”

Mythra was idly chewing on her lip, unable to shake off her own look of concern. “You’re _sure_ he’s--”

“Oh for the love of…” Nia huffed, pinching the bridge of her nose, and all too aware that Rex had been watching this entire exchange go down. “ _Yes_ , I’m _sure_ he’s alright. He’s not in any obvious pain or anything, and if you really don’t believe me, you can just ask him yourself -- he’s right _here_. Just… breathe out and relax a bit, yeah?”

Rex chuckled a bit, straightening his own posture as he eyed both Aegises. “She’s telling the truth, you know. I’m _fine_ , you two, honest. I just… never brought it up because of, well…” He made a sweeping gesture with his own arms, his expression softening. “I knew you’d both get worried sick over it.”

There was an exasperated sigh, as Mythra leaned down to give him a stare and a playful flick of his nose. “That doesn’t mean _don’t_ tell us, you jerk.”

“Yeah… I know.” He wrung his hands together, dropping his own gaze as he did. “Sorry.”

Pyra gave his hair a quick ruffle, one hand upon his chin to bring his face back up. “It’s alright, just… tell us next time if something like this is going on? Please?”

“Yeah, I promise.” Rex turned to Nia, picking up a smile again. “Look, um… thanks again for coming. Do you maybe wanna stay for dinner or something? I know it’s a long trip back to Torigoth.”

The Gormotti huffed a bit, already in the midst of packing up her things. “Much as I’d love to, I left Dromarch to watch things by himself while I was away. I _really_ ought to get back so I can help lighten the load. Maybe next time you lot are in my neck of the woods, yeah?”

“Sure, sounds like a plan, Nia. Have a safe trip back!”

“Will do, Rex. You three take care.” She was already headed out the bedroom and towards the front door, but he was almost certain that Nia had shot the three of them a grin and a knowing look.

And with the distant sound of the front door opening and closing, it meant just the three of them in the house once more. He was already reaching for his shirt once again when he heard Pyra speak up, her voice soft yet stern. “Leave it off.”

Defeated once more, Rex resigned himself to simply staying put as both Pyra and Mythra sat down right beside him, with him right in the middle. There was likely no getting out of anything while in this position, which was probably exactly _why_ it had been done. He could certainly feel their gaze upon him, no doubt trying to take stock of the situation. At the very least, they didn’t look _upset_ with him or anything, just… worried. Maybe somewhat sad, even.

“How…” Pyra seemed to struggle for the words she was looking for, gingerly reaching out to trace a finger along one of the scars on his shoulder as she did. “How long has this been happening?”

He hesitated briefly before answering, “...about a week.”

There was a hum of disapproval to his other side, causing him to turn towards Mythra. “So right after the collapse then, huh?”

“Yeah. I’ve got a hunch about it, but… it’s just a hunch.”

“Well, it’s not like we know any better, given that we only found out maybe a few hours ago, so.” She placed a hand upon his shoulder, squeezing gently -- it was plain to see that she wasn’t exactly _thrilled_ with him trying to keep this a secret, but she was still trying to show her support and concern. “You might as well come out with it.”

“Right, um.” Rex sighed deeply, letting his head sink slightly as he spoke. “Maybe a day or two after the collapse, and you two came back, it started to happen. At first, it was just the one on my chest, but as the week went on, it kept getting bigger and bigger… and more kept showing up. And now, here we are. I’ve basically got ‘em everywhere.”

“No kidding,” Mythra quietly tutted at him, leaning a bit so as to peer at his back. “You’re _covered_ in them.”

“I, um… think it might have had something to do with me having part of your core?”

Pyra let out a soft gasp, covering her mouth as some new thought seemingly came to her. “That’s… no, that _shouldn’t_ be the case, but…”

“Pyra?” He abruptly turned back around to face her, already quirking a brow at her. “You figure something out?”

“All this time, I thought you had been healing just as well as we had, but… I don’t think you were at all.” She looked rather troubled by whatever it was she had just figured out, and she had already reached out to take one of Rex’s hands into her own. “I think… your half of our core crystal was just _suppressing_ the scars, preventing them from appearing.”

Mythra quickly shot forward, sitting on the edge of the bed and leaning out. “Which… means he’s had these all along? And they only started to show up because he lost his part of our core?”

“Exactly. Which… which means…” The rest of whatever it was she wanted to say quickly died in her mouth as the truth began to dawn on her. _All_ of these marks upon his body, each and every single one, had been something he had gained _for them_. _Because_ of them. Wordlessly, she felt her own fingers begin to travel along the length of his arm, fingers lightly brushing against the many scars upon it. She couldn’t even begin to remember when or where he had gotten _half_ of these, something which filled her with far more guilt than she thought possible. All of this had been because he had repeatedly thrown himself into harm’s way on their behalf, time and time again, and she couldn’t recall a single detail about so many of them -- had it simply been because they couldn’t be seen until now? Pyra simply leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder and gently squeezing the hand she still held. “I’m _so_ sorry Rex, I… I never realized that--”

He simply shook his head, returning the squeeze with one of his own. “It’s fine. I knew what I was getting myself into. I said I was gonna take you to Elysium, even if it meant getting roughed up along the way.”

“I don’t think you knew it was going to be _this_ much, though.” She sighed, turning towards him slightly to gently nuzzle him. “You went through _so_ much trouble, just for us... I’m sorry we didn’t see it sooner.”

“It’s _fine_ , Pyra. Honest.” One hand slowly drifted up to lightly rest on her head, his fingers running through her hair. “I’d do it all over again if I had to.”

Mythra, to her credit, had already wrapped one arm around his waist, the other down by his side as her other hand crept up to gently touch the large gash on his chest. “So, is this one from… what I think it is?”

“Jin. Has to be. There’s…” A pause, as he chewed on his lip momentarily. “There’s another on my back, about the same size and everything. From when he ran me through.”

“You mean on the ship. That was… before I woke up.” She frowned a bit, unwittingly continuing to trail her hand down the rest of his torso. “I’m... sorry I couldn’t be there for you.”

“I thought we already had this talk about making sure you two didn’t have to apologize anymore? It was before I had bonded with Pyra anyways, I don’t think there would’ve been anything either of you two could have done about it.” Somewhat surprisingly, a faint laugh worked its way out of him, carrying with it a smile to his face. “You know, it’s... funny, really. If Jin hadn’t done that, I don’t think we’d be here like this right now. Together.”

“Well, that’s... one way of putting it. Besides, don’t take this the wrong way, but uh.” Mythra’s face flushed somewhat as she sought to bury it in his shoulder, her voice muffled slightly. “It’s… um, a good look for you.”

There was a startled noise from his other side, and the sight of Pyra quickly leaning forwards to stare at her sister. “Mythra! How can you say something like that?”

“Look, I’m just saying that it all makes him look… y’know, more... rugged. More handsome. I kinda like it. And besides, not like I can’t still appreciate Rex putting his body on the line for us.”

“Sure, but these are still scars he picked up while trying to keep _us_ safe. I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer if he didn’t get hurt _at all_.”

“You’re not alone on that, Pyra, don’t worry.” Mythra sat upright and withdrew her arms, raising both towards the ceiling as she stuck out her chest, stretching. “I’m still wanting that bath I missed out on earlier, so.”

Rex chuckled and shook his head, motioning her towards the door. “Don’t let me keep you waiting, especially not when I was the one that ruined your plans.”

“Yeah, well.” Hopping to her feet, she leaned down to plant a quick kiss on his lips, turning on her heels and heading for the door. “You two know where I’ll be.”

“Sure. Have a good time, Mythra!”

There was a brief wave from her as she turned the corner and headed out, now leaving him alone with Pyra. However, unlike her sister, she seemed none too keen on relinquishing her hold on him any time soon, instead still leaning into his side and tracing some of the many scars on his body with her fingers. His arms, his chest, his back… he felt her trailing them along so many parts of himself, and he could just as easily watch her eyes dart here and there, seemingly trying to assess his condition for herself. When she finally did speak up, her voice was soft and gentle, with all the warmth that she usually had when she spoke. “I just wish you never had to get hurt in the first place. I… don’t _like_ seeing you get injured. It always breaks my heart a little.”

Responding to that was… proving to be difficult. He knew he ought to, but nothing he could think of could probably even begin to address how she was feeling, the level of guilt she might be having over knowing that so many of these had come from the time in which he had known her and Mythra. He instead opted for the next best thing. “I know. And... for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

“...promise me then, Rex. Promise me you’ll stay safe. I… I know everything is over now, and odds are we’ll never have to go through another battle again, but if we do… I want you to promise me you’ll stay safe. _Please_.” She had already turned towards him, taking both of his hands into hers and squeezing lightly. “I just… I need to hear it.”

“I promise, Pyra. I’ve got every intention of staying with you and Mythra, believe me.” He smiled gently, leaning forward for just a simple kiss upon the lips, but blinked in surprise when she very quickly placed her hands upon his neck, drawing him in for something much deeper. One kiss became another, and another, and another, and he happily allowed himself this indulgence, until at last she pulled away from him.

Her own expression had softened a great deal, red as her face might have been, and with a smile of her own, she leaned up to give him one last peck. “...I believe you. I, um… should get started on dinner, probably.”

Hopping off the bed, she hurried out the door and down the hallway, no doubt doing her best to keep herself composed -- he was pretty sure he could hear her letting out a squeal of delight all the way from the kitchen. It was… admittedly kinda cute, for her to still get that excited over a show of affection like that. It had been only a few days since he had started dating both of them, after all, and things such as what had just happened were hardly rare anymore.

But still, he appreciated it. Appreciated _them_. Both of them. With his shirt finally in one hand, he placed the other upon the scar that crossed his chest, right where his heart lay. For them, he would earn these marks again and again, if it meant the two women he loved would stay out of harm’s way.

For them, he did so gladly.


End file.
